I request the government to take serious action on fake beggars
JATHVI: All across Pakistan beggars have become a common issue for many people. Thousands and thousands of people are begging in Pakistan. Statistics from Google suggest that from 2004 to 2015 the percentage of beggars increased from 39 per cent to 55 per cent. It is also said that 60 per cent of the people beg for the basic reason that they cannot afford food. In the lower rungs of society, 75 out of 1,000 infants are dying before their fifth birthday due to poverty and they remain helpless. In fact, there are several people who have made this into a business. There are also those that beg out of compulsion and they are not able to work. But others have no way of knowing the situation of a small child begging at the car window. Instead of giving money, we mostly insult and scold them out of frustration. We often so easily shove them away, blaming them for not working instead? But do not think that maybe the person begging on the street or on the road has been kicked out of his house or has a mental disability making it impossible for him to work. Many people suffer such fates and there remains no way except begging for them. What we don’t realise is that our small acts of kindness have the power to save several people from hunger and suffering. We must be kind to everyone, because people may tend to forget their injuries or sorrows or hatred, but they will never forget kindness. If we are able enough then we should help the needy. A wonderful writer, Anne Frank, once said that no one has ever become poor by giving. When we are kind to people that kindness is never wasted, it is only transformed.
I request the government to take serious action on fake beggars and create initiative to help those that are actually in need.
Imran Sattar
Published in The Express Tribune, November 23rd, 2019.
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